Vasiliev Fedor Alexandrovich (1850-1873)

Young, strong, living for only five years as an artist, having reached a tremendous height, he discovered a lively sky, he discovered a wet, bright, moving sky and the delights of the landscape, which he expressed in a hundred of his paintings.

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Portrait of the artist Fedor Alexandrovich Vasiliev
Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich

Fedor Aleksandrovich Vasiliev lived a short life, but his contribution to Russian art is great: he left wonderful paintings of his native nature, where truthfulness is combined with subtle, soulful lyricism.

An undoubted talent recognized by all his contemporaries: both artists and critics. Kramskoy compared him to a fabulous rich man who did not know the count of his treasures and who generously and recklessly threw them anywhere. In front of his canvas, especially when he wrote or rewrote the clouds, both Kramskoy and Repin stopped in amazement.

In his landscapes there is always a lively excitement of the artist, in love with the beauty of nature.

Contemporaries, and even later researchers, saw in Vasiliev an artist who could have made a huge revolution in all landscape painting, if not for an early death.

The Russian painter, landscape painter Fedor Alexandrovich Vasiliev was born on February 10, 1850 in St. Petersburg, in the family of a small post office official. Already a twelve-year-old child, Fyodor Alexandrovich was given up for service at the main post office. From an early age addicted to drawing, the future artist gave all his free time from work at the post office to his favorite pastime.

Dawn in St. Petersburg. 1870

The artist’s childhood was overshadowed not only by poverty, but also by the tragic fate of his father, after whose death in 1865 Vasiliev became the support of the family - the concerns of his daily bread fell on the shoulders of a 15-year-old boy.

On the Neva. 1869-1871

Vasiliev worked with the restorer of the Academy of Arts P.K.Sokolov and continued his studies in art. Having finally chosen the path of the artist, he enters the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, where he communicates with talented young people and is actively involved in creative life. The atmosphere surrounding the future artist helped him to feel and realize the changes that were taking place then in art and in general in life.

The teacher I. I. Kramskoy, who taught at the school, with whom the artist was close all his short life, enjoyed great love and authority. Somewhat later, Vasiliev became close to I. I. Shishkin, who became an authoritative mentor to a novice artist.

In June 1867, Shishkin and Vasiliev set off for Valaam, where a novice artist, previously familiar only with the technical techniques of drawing, comprehends the peculiarities of the working method in nature. Listening to Shishkin’s advice, the future landscape painter at the same time expands the range of selectable motives and techniques for their image. He has a cognitive interest in various natural phenomena. On Valaam, the artist draws closer to Petersburg landscape painters. In 1867, Vasiliev wrote several sketches from nature, which were exhibited at the Society for the Promotion of Arts. His best Valaam work is considered the study “On the Island of Valaam. Stones. ”